DRIVING USA: GETTING OUR KICKS ON ROUTE 66

Hi everyone

Well it’s been an eventful day. We waited in South Bend until 10 a.m. on this American Independence day so we could visit the Studebaker Museum. This detailed the story of the German Studebaker family who were originally blacksmiths and became buggy builders, even building coaches for President Lincoln, - and amazingly the coach Lincoln was in the night he was assassinated was there – awesome to see. The Studebaker senior was a bit of a disaster financially, but one of his sons made $$ while selling wheelbarrows to the miners in the gold rush out west and it was his money that set the family up. They became coach makers extraordinaire and even sold many during wars. Then with the beginning of the automobile, they finally built cars. There’s were high end and they are rather beautiful. The factory had many cars, not the newer models, but all the old ones. Just lovely.

President Lincolns' Carriage - he used it the night he was assassinated!

The start of Route 66

The Gemini Giant

For sale - $2000

In Dwight

Street art in Pontiac

More street art

Next we headed towards Joliet. I must say I was nervous as our previous experience going through here was chaotic traffic eon the freeway, but we felt /were told it would be easier today since it’s a public holiday. Yes..and no. Mostly okay, but when we hit the interchange between Chicago etc, there was 20 miles of signs, lane changes etc. The traffic however going the opposite direction was at a standstill and the traffic jam went for about 20 miles! I think I would have turned around and gone home if I had to face that.

Joliet is the start of the real Route 66 road as coming out of Chicago it’s really just free way. We stopped that the visitor centre – closed and so decided to just head out on out. Madam B did quite well, but the route is quite well signed posted for the post part. It runs alongside the freeway, sometimes though we went on rather narrow gravel road, but generally it’s a 2 lane road.

From Joliet we stopped at Wilmington where the Gemini Giant is at the old Launching Pad café – now closed – The giant is one of those big men things that they used to use beside gas stations in the past.
Next stop was Braidwood at the Polka Dot Café - still operational – where the Blues Brothers got their name from – Elwood/Joliet Jake? - There are statues of them, plus Marilyn and Elvis.

Dwight is the next small town, really pretty. The oldest gas station on route 66 – now closed – is actually being restored as a visitor centre. The town of Odel also has one of these restored service stations, but just a few yards before it, is a house with its own gas pump memorabilia and a few old cars lying around!

For quite a bit of this trip we were following a Model A – fun.

Pontiac was next. This town really celebrates Route 66 and has paintings on many of its brick wall buildings depicting 66 scenes. We visited the Route 66 Hall of Fame – which shows many famous faces along the route – places, people who have helped save the buildings etc. There’s also a very detailed war museum in the same building, even with a NZ flag.